Boy is one of the Dedes who was in the Wallace Art Awards a few years back. For this event he had to spend two months in a gallery linked to Liar, Alien, Ms SM and Little Smug Devil. It seems that the experience made a deep impression on him, as he has worn his cap pulled down low over his face ever since and he hardly speaks. Mouse was very surprised to hear Boy had revealed to young Lou that he would like to make bagels. She was even more surprised to learn he didn’t need any help in the kitchen. He knew exactly what he was doing and he was obviously in love with the finished product. The others didn’t dare tell him that they are now so over things baked from flour and water. Mouse said it will definitely be the last recipe. It is another yeast dough recipe, but bagels are not just baked in the oven. They are boiled in a slight sugary solution first. They are soft and spongy and of course everybody was curious how he got the hole in the middle.

Ingredients

Method

Pour flour in a bowl, make a well in the middle, add sugar and yeast and water. Let rest for 15 minutes until the yeast is sloshy. Then mix in everything and knead on a flat surface until it becomes a soft and elastic dough. Knead very well for 5 minutes. If the dough is still too sticky, add a little more flour and knead again. Put dough back into the bowl. Cover with a clean tea towel and let rest in a warm place for an hour.

Preheat oven to 2200C

Knead the dough again and divide it into eight equal balls. Flatten the balls into a disk shape. With the handle of a wooden spoon poke a hole in the middle of each disk. Stick your index finger through the hole and swing the dough around your finger, like you are exercising with a hoola hoop, until the hole has markedly increased. It should have a diameter of approximately 4 centimetres. Place on a floured baking tray.

Use a shallow pan in which you can place more than one bagel at the time. Add as much water as is needed to submerge about three quarters of the bagel. Add sugar and bring to a boil. When the water is boiling, place the bagels in the solution and boil for two minutes on each side. Use a slotted spoon to take them out of the solution. Shake off excess water and place on the baking tray. Sprinkle the seeds over them.